John Wilkinson, who was jailed for six weeks for breaching an ASBO restricting his habit of feeding pigeons, is expected to be released before the weekend after serving half his sentence.
The Visitor campaigned to ‘Free the Morecambe Birdman’ believing his punishment did not fit the crime.
We also said sending a man to prison for feeding birds was an unnecessary waste of taxpayers’ money and unlikely to make a difference to his long-term behaviour.
We also called for active and meaningful support for those in Morecambe who have suffered years of misery as a direct result of his bird feeding activities.
Neighbours have complained for years about the noise, nuisance and smell caused by Wilkinson’s habit of feeding pigeons at his home on Cavendish Road in the West End of Morecambe.
Our campaign was sparked after angry Visitor readers bombarded social media with messages calling for Wilkinson, who is being held in HM Preston prison, to be released.
Rita Patton, a friend of Wilkinson’s who started her own campaign on Facebook and organised a public bird feeding in Morecambe to show support, said: “I’m proud of The Visitor. You’ve done things in the right way.
“Apparently John is doing really well although he’s a little nervous by all the attention, because he’s seen all the press and TV coverage.
“I’m going to have a meeting with him and (charity) West End Impact when he gets out, to explain to him why we started the campaign.
“I hope he will go back to feeding the birds, but a little more responsibly.”
Mrs Patton has collected £100 in donations, which she will hand over to Wilkinson once he is freed.
Meanwhile David Morris MP has written to the Secretary of State for Justice, Chris Grayling, to ask if procedures were followed correctly in the case of Wilkinson.
“This is a really sad case,” said Mr Morris.
“I pass Mr. Wilkinson’s house regularly and I am sure it must be frustrating for neighbours to have so many pigeons flying past all of the time.”
Wilkinson was sent to jail after feeding pigeons approximately 40kg of bird seed each day, along with vast quantities of food such as pizzas, pasta, apples and processed ready-meals, which he was forbidden from doing under the terms of his ASBO.
He will be released under legal guidelines which allow people jailed for less than a year to be freed after serving just half their sentence.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
A home in Tucson is being cleaned out by animal control officials after they discovered the two residents living with more than 140 pigeons.
The officers said they found at least 15 to 20 nests inside the house, in addition to rodents, insects and the pigeons themselves.
Neighbors said the residents encouraged the birds to enter the home by feeding them and leaving the door open. One neighbor said there were broken windows that the birds flew in and out of.
The property is long-term mental health housing with multiple units. According to a police report, City Code Enforcement workers checked on the home on May 30, but the residents didn’t let them in. They came back five days later with a search warrant.
One neighbor described the owner of the property as a “slum lord.” A representative of the owner, who cooks for the residents, agreed to let officials inside.
In total, officials said there were 143 pigeons found in the home and more than 100 more living outside. Based on the findings, three more units will need work, which will uproot 6 more residents.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
As complaints about pigeons in Uptown Greenwood continue to roll in from business owners, the City of Greenwood is considering options for dealing with the problem.
Greenwood City Council heard options for dealing with the problem during their monthly work session last Monday. City manager Charlie Barrineau said the pigeons have been a problem for a number of years, but the problem has gotten worse since many of the buildings along Main Street in Uptown have undergone renovations. Many of the birds had nested in some of those buildings and have been forced to move. The birds have settled in the arcades in Uptown Greenwood.
Barrineau told council that he found a company which specializes in solving problems with birds, though Barrineau noted pigeons would always be a problem. Barrineau also said there was no guarantee that what is done will be of any long term help in solving the problem. City workers spend a significant amount of time cleaning up the droppings from the pigeons in Uptown, Barrineau said. Mayor Welborn Adams said he has received a number of calls about the issue.
The first option Barrineau presented to council was an owl statue. Owls are natural predators of pigeons. The statues would keep the pigeons at bay a week or two, Barrineau said, but they would figure out the owl is not moving and come right back. The other option was to place bird spikes along the ledges in the arcades and netting to prevent the birds from entering areas where they nest and cause the most damage. The netting is similar to what is used behind home plate at baseball fields to stop foul balls from flying into the stands.
The cost for all three arcades would be about $15,000 Barrineau said, and would still be no guarantee the problem would be solved. The cost do one of the arcades as a beta test would be about $6,500 and would allow council to see if the spikes and netting will work before laying out the remainder of the cash for the other two arcades. The funding for the project will come from existing hospitality tax funds.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
It can be pretty hard to be a pigeon anywhere in the world, but it turns out that the charming and iconic city of Vienna just got to be one of the worst locations for the pesky birds. Dog owners, however, are facing even bigger problems.
It seems authorities are trying to clean up the city and they have implemented a couple of new plans to do just that.
Pick up that poop or pay
First it was the dog owners. City authorities organized “Waste Watchers” (cute name, huh?) to keep an eagle eye on dog owners in the streets and parks. Any errant bit of poop then earned the appropriate dog owner a huge fine of up to 470 euros for their crime.
Pigeons attract rats, ergo get rid of pigeons
Now, the city is saying that people must cease and desist from feeding the pigeons. They say that when that elderly gent or lady sitting in the park chucks bread crumbs at the pigeons, they must cough up a 36 euro fine. Not as bad as dog poop I suppose, but still.
What officials are saying is that feeding the birds with bread is “not good for them” plus the left-overs (pigeons leave left-overs?) then apparently attract the rats.
Vienna city councilor Ulrike Sima pronounced that, “whoever feeds pigeons, feeds rats,” adding that feeding the pigeons is “misunderstood animal welfare” as by eating human food “they get sick and suffer.”
Referring to limited green space in the city, Sima also said this should not be “rendered unusable due to the pigeons.”
Pigeon prison camps
So that the birds do not “suffer” and the parks are not “rendered unusable,” city officials have other sinister plans afoot.
Experts in the field have come up with an idea for good old population-reduction. They want to set up a special nesting site for the birds, which will apparently attract them using what they term “pigeon psychology.”
This wonderful pigeon residential estate will house up to 400 of the pesky birds, which will be fed a much more appropriate diet. In return for this life of sheer luxury, their eggs will be removed from their nests and replaced with dummies, thus preventing them from breeding.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
It seems that the city of Vienna has a problem with pigeons, or is it the pigeons that now have a problem with the city? Anyhow, if you feed a pigeon in Vienna you will now face a fine of 36 euros for your efforts.
“Waste-Watchers” that have been employed in Vienna to monitor naughty dog owners who neglect to pick up the poop. Now the city is going one step further and targeting the poor pigeons.
City management reckons there are too many pigeons in the city and they have even compared the birds to vermin, with city councilor Ulrike Sima stating that “Whoever feeds pigeons, feeds rats.” Sima added that feeding pigeons is “misunderstood animal welfare.” She said that human food and bread crumbs are actually bad for the birds and that “they get sick and suffer.” OK, and the mention of rats actually means that any bread left over by the birds attracts the vermin.
“We live in a big city, but there is already limited green space,” she added, saying that this should not be rendered unusable due to the pigeons.
It seems the pigeons are breeding beyond all expectations and there is now an excess number of the birds hanging (and flying) around in the city. In the meantime a poster campaign has been launched to warn the general public on the dangers (and expense) of feeding the poor birds.
Experts in the city are coming up with some ideas, however, on how to reduce the population by setting up a special nesting site for the birds. Apparently this site will attract the birds using what they term “pigeon psychology.”
The new fancy site will house up to 400 pigeons who will be fed the appropriate food. All well and good. But in return for their life of luxury, the pigeons’ eggs will be taken from the nests and replaced with dummies, thus preventing them from breeding.
About Pigeon Patrol:
Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.
Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.
Ultrasonic pigeon & bird scarers are electronic devices that produce high pitch emissions known as ultrasound. Ultrasonic pigeon & bird scaring systems have been introduced into the pest control marketplace due to the fact that ultrasound is too high-pitched for human hearing but falls within the hearing range of most species of birds. Most sonic bird scaring devices produce a sound that is audible to the human ear and therefore may cause human disturbance if used in an area of human habitation.
Ultrasonic systems can be used in a wide variety of locations without causing human interference making them an ideal choice for areas where noise-related scaring is not an option. The exception to this rule may be where women and young children are concerned. With age, the human ear looses the ability to hear ultrasound but in some women and particularly in the young, ultrasound falls within hearing ranges and can cause considerable discomfort and headaches. This may have the effect of restricting the use of ultrasonic pigeon & bird scarers when used for pigeon control and gull control in urban areas and on industrial sites.
A constant 15-25 KHz setting (15 KHz for external model)
A variable setting allowing the user to modulate the frequency between 15 and 30 KHz with different speeds or ‘warbles’ (15-25 KHz for external model)
A high/medium/low frequency setting
A combination mode which alternates the ‘constant’ frequency and the ‘warble’ output in timed bursts
Up to 6500 sq feet coverage (3600 sq feet for external model)
Power consumption: approx 10 watts (depending on brand)
Most ultrasonic pigeon & bird scarers are powered by mains electricity in an effort to provide the user with a maintenance-free option. Some manufacturers offer their range with a mains adaptor giving 12 volts DC as standard but will provide a unit with connections to a wholly DC power source (normally car/leisure battery) on request. Two manufacturers also offer an environmentally friendly solar panel option allowing the battery to be ‘topped up’ when exposed to daylight or direct sunlight.
Due to the fact that ultrasound travels in straight lines and will not pass through solid objects, a system providing multiple speaker options will provide the most comprehensive coverage. Some units also offer the option of installing extension speakers for use in areas that are architecturally complex. Due to the nature of ultra high frequency sound-waves that spread out in circular waves from the source, a multi-speaker unit with 4-speakers ensures that the sound waves overlap, providing total coverage.
The ultrasonic pigeon & bird scarers that combine ultrasound with distress calls,strobe lights and predator calls are undoubtedly an ‘all-singing-all-dancing’ product that may be ideal for certain sites, but the stroboscopic and sonic elements may result in the unit being considerably less versatile in an urban application. As a roost inhibitor, for areas rarely frequented by humans (for example the underside of a railway or river bridge), the multi-faceted device would be entirely appropriate and may offer high levels of protection. However, the lack of an AC power supply in this type of environment will inevitably make the product more labour intensive. It is clear that the combo units are species-specific and based on their potential to create human disturbance, these products must also be considered to be highly context-specific.
John Wilkinson, who was jailed for six weeks for breaching an ASBO restricting his habit of feeding pigeons, is expected to be released before the weekend after serving half his sentence.
